Hog-ringing crate.



E. DOWNING.

HOG meme CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.19| 1918. 1,301,408, Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W 1 ibk WW m witness fizuentm E. DOWNING.

HOG RINGING CRATE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.I9. 191a.

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Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

witneas ED TA HOG-RINGING CRATE.

Application filed August 19, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ELSWORTH DOWNING, acitizen of the United States, and resident of Collins, in the county ofStory and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and usefulHog-Ringing Crate, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a hog ringing crate of simple,durable and inexpensive construction, especially designed for use by hograisers in securing and firmly holding 'the snouts of hogs forconvenience in placing rings therein.

More specifically it is my object to provide adevice of this characterinto which a. hog may be driven and then slowly and firmly butpositively forced into position with its snout projecting through theopening in the front of the device, where it may be grasped and firmlyheld.

A further object is to provide a device of this kind which may bereadily, quickly and easily adjusted by the operator to fit hogs ofvarying sizes, and also to provide a device in which all danger ofinjury to the hogs is avoided.

My invention consists in certain details in the construction,arrangement and combination of the various parts of the crate,

whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fullyset forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

"Figure l-shows a side elevation of the complete device embodying myinvention.

Fig, 2 shows a central, vertical, longitudinal, sectional View of sametaken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 45. Fig. 3 shows a front end elevation.Fig. 4 shows a transverse sectional view. Fig. 5 showsa detail view ofthe bottom I of the sliding platform and connected parts,

illustrating the manner in which the ropes or cables are attachedthereto.

Fig. 6 shows a detail, perspective View, illustrating the upright guideson the rear of the sliding platform, and

Fig. 7 shows a detail, plan view, illustrating the means for adjustingthe movable sides. V

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the referencenumeral 10 to indicate the main frame of the device. This frame ispreferably rectangular in construction, with its ends open.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

Seria1No.25O,497.

guides and capable of being removed by he ing lifted above the guides.

For moving the hog supporting" platform either forwardly or rearwardlywithin the frame and upon its rollers, I have provided a lever 15preferably fulcrumed at one side of the frame, and having thereon aratchet device 16 designed to 'coact with a stationary quadrant 17.Connected with the lever is a rope or cable 18, extended for: wardlythrough pulleys 19 and attached to the hog supporting -platform near itsrear end, and attached to-the same lever is another rope or cable 20,extended rearwardly and through the pulleys 21 and attached to a the hogsupporting platform near its front end. Obviously, by a manipulation ofthis lever the hog supporting platform may be moved forwardly orrearwardly within the main frame, and by means of the ratchet device andquadrant it may be firmly secured and held in any position of itsadjustment. i I Mounted within the frame and adjacent tothe sides of thehog supporting platform, are the crate side walls 22 and 23. These sidewalls are connected by the hinges 24; with the main frame, and normallyextend upwardly and outwardly. For adjusting the incline of these crateside walls, I have provided a lever 25 fulcrumed to the top of the frameand provided with a ratchet device 26 to cooperate with a sector 27mounted on the top of the frame; Connected with the lever 011 oppositesides of its center, are the rods 28 which extend outwardly in op positedirections and are attached respectively to the two crate sides. By thisarrangement it is obvious that the upper edges of the crate sides may betilted toward and from each other and secured or locked in any positionof their adjustment.

The forward end of the crate has a frame member 1O above which is asubstantially V- shaped opening near its central portion, de

signed to permit a hog to project its snout through.

Beneath the said V-shaped portion is a lever 29, and attached to thislever is a loop 30 of rope or cable, which loop extends upwardly throughthe guides 31. This lever has at its free end a tread-1e 32, upon whichthe o erator may place his foot.

In the use with this part of the device and after a hog has projectedits snout through the 'V sha'ped opening, the operator grasps the loop'30 by hand and places it over the hogs snou't, and then by pressingd'own wardly upon the tread-1e, firmly holds the animals snout withinthe loop and against the bottom ot the substantially V- shaped opening.

in practical use the crate is preferably placed at the end of convergingfences, 'and the animals to be operated upon are driven into thespacebetween these converging fencesso that they will enter one at a timeinto the wearer open end of the crate.

The foremost animal will readily 'enter the crate by ste ping upon themovable platform. Then aiftei-theanimal is on the crate,

the op'erator drops the end gate into position in its guides, thuspreventing a rearwa 1-dmovement of the animal. The operator then graspsthe lever at the side of the "crate, and moves the platform forwardly,

carrying the hog with it, until the hogs snout projects "through theV-shaped opening'infthe front of the crate. It is obvious that in "thisoperation it makes no difference whatever 'what is the size or length ofthe animal, as the operator simply #moves the lever at the side of thecrate sufficiently to project the animals snout through the V- shapedopening, and when he releases his gr'asp {on the lever it isautomatically locked and held :inthis position.

Then the operator places the loop "or rope or cable over the animalssnout and holds downwardly onthe lever connected with the loop, with hisfoot. In this manner he can apply .j-ust the ri'g ht 'ia'inouirt ofpressure to hold the animal without any danger of inj ury'to it.

The sides of the crate may be adjusted to fitandsecurely hold the animalby simply grasping the lever "at the top of the crate and anovin'g thesides inwardly until they fir'n'i l'yengage the sides "of the animal.This will prevent the animal from struggling to move rearwardly, andwill firmly hold the animal such rearward movement, so that the o eratorne'ed put only a slight amount of pressure on the loop over the animalssnout. This loop need only be held downwardly with sufficient pressureto just hold the animals snout, which need not be great enough pressureto hold the animal against its struggles to back out of the crate.

With my improved crate it is obvious that animals may be handled veryrapidly, because all of "the movements of grasping, holding and movingthe animals to position are done slowly but firmly and positively, sothat no time need be lost o'naccount of the struggles of the animal.Furthermore, with my improved crate, animals are never injured onaccount of their struggles, be-- cause they are held against rearwardmovement by the rear end gate, which is firmly but slowly movedforwardly, and then the animals sides are held by the movable sides ofthe crate so that when the animals snout is grasped'by the loop there isno danger of injuring the animals snout by the pressureof the loopthereon.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination oi? a suitableframe with a platform therein mounted on rollers, said platform havingat its rear end at its sides, upright guide members, a removable rearend adapted to be engaged in, said guide memform capable offore-'and-aft sliding move-' ment in said frame, a pair of side cratemembers pivoted to-said frame and designed to be adjacent to the sidesof said platform when the platform is at the forward position ofmovement, a lever pivoted at the top of said frame between its ends, anotched sector adjacent to said lever, a spring actuated pawl on saidlever, lin'ks pivoted to said lever on opposite sides ott its pivotpoint and pivoted to'the resp ective si'de crate. members.

Des M0ines, Iowa, August 10, I918.

- answerer-r1 powNiNei ificliies' 'o'fFinis-patent maym'eiohtaineflirorfive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatentaf.

' WashingtonJJxGP. a I

